


When is the Devil Going to Let on that You're in the Details?

by Green_Eyed_Dream



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-10 06:39:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13496816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Green_Eyed_Dream/pseuds/Green_Eyed_Dream
Summary: 5 years after the battle of Hogwarts, Hermione Jean Granger is nowhere to be found. Rita Skeeter, sensing a new story, puts out a hit for information on the whereabouts of the Golden Girls and what she finds will cause a violent uproar amongst the wizarding community.





	When is the Devil Going to Let on that You're in the Details?

“What do you think? Eh Bozo? The Public interest is ripe for the picking. I’m thinking a front page spread ‘The Golden Trio, Then and Now’. She said, hand clutched around her firewhiskey.Bozo grimaced, 

“No….no, you’re right could be better. How about..‘Moving on, The  Golden Trio No More?” Bozo smiled at her “I think we have a winner” 

Rita Skeeter sat in the  back of the Leaky Cauldron with her dutiful assistant . Eyes alight with the possibility of a new headline, she downed the rest of her drink. 

The rebuilding period after the war had been good to the Queen of the Quills. Stories, gossip, and scandal were abound. And, for a time, there was enough ministry instability to let a certain beetle go unnoticed. She had taken back her place at the Daily Profit. Her Quick Quotes Quill slaying reputations faster than they were built. Of course the  _ Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore _ had proved to be an instant best seller. Wizards and witches alike had clamored to read the dirt she unearthed on the crooked-nosed old man. Rita knew it was gold from the moment she had finished penning the book. It was not as though she really had to look hard for the skeletons in Dumbledore’s closet. A gay love affair, sororicide, and matricide. His life was a gossip columnist’ dream. The nine hundred page unauthorized biography practically wrote itself. But the press surrounding her book had died down recently and she needed a fresh story to exploit. 

It just so happened that the very same muggleborn who had tried to blackmailed her into a brief early retirement was now something of a mystery in the Wizarding world. No one had seen or spoken to Hermione Granger in years. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, her supposed best friends, were clueless to her whereabouts. Their owls went unanswered and their searches proved to be fruitless. Public ingirige was high. They wanted to know what happened to their beloved Golden Girl and Rita...well she smelled blood in the water. 

Standing up from their table, Rita took a poster out of her green crocodile skin handbag and waved her wand over it. Copy after copy sprung from nowhere and attached themselves to the dirty walls of the pub. “Oh Bozo, this is going to be fun” 

Photos of Rita smiling lecherously started down at them from all angles, captioned with the headline “50 galleons a piece to anyone with information on the whereabouts of Hermione Granger”  

 

…..

 

Leads on Hermione started pouring in from all corners of London. Rita was disappointed, not a one of them had any merit so far. She was sorting through a week's worth of letters piled high on her desk.Swarms of owls had been coming and going all day. “Incendio” She murmured at another useless piece of parchment. It was 6:00 pm and she was one of the only people left on her floor. “Bozo!” she called from her office. He hastily appeared around the corner.

“Yes Rita?”

“Bozo, get me a reservation at the Scorned Sorceress. I am done looking through this rubbish.”

“That bad eh?” 

“Yes” She drawled “A Wizard from Kent actually wrote to me saying that Granger and Dumbledore faked their deaths and are taking a postwar holiday in Nice. If it wasn't bad for business I’d send him a cursed thank you letter” Bozo chuckled.

“Before I forget, an owl just came for you. From a Ms. Clearwater.” Rita frowned, not recognizing the name. 

“Fine fine, just make the reservation” She held out her hand impatiently. He handed it over  and left her office. Rita pulled the parchment out of the envelope and began to read

_ “Dear Ms. Skeeter, _

_ Hello, my name is Penelope Clearwater. I heard that you were looking for information on Hermione Granger. I have it in good conscience that she has disappeared into the muggle world. I was on my computer yesterday and came across some interesting information. I don’t expect you know what a laptop is, so please meet for a coffee tomorrow at your earliest convenience. I will tell you everything I know. _

_ Regards. _

_ Ms. Clearwater      _

 

_ P.S We have to meet in muggle London as my computer does not work around large amounts of magic. Here is the address  _ _ 3C/3D, East Block County Hall, Belvedere Roa, Lambeth, London SE1 7GQ, UK. I hope you don’t have trouble finding it. _

 

Rita had to admit she was intrigued. This was the most promising lead she had gotten all week. She took a chance and wrote down an agreeable time on a scrap of parchment, rolling it around her owl's leg watching her fly out of the window and off into the darkness

…

Rita apparated into an alleyway across from the Starbucks. Muggle london always made Rita’s skin crawl. Hordes of bodies pressed together on sidewalks and underground trains. Far too common… “Although the war time toilet entrances were almost as unpleasant” she thought.

She walked through the door and looked around the modern coffee shop. She had no idea what Ms. Clearwater looked like but everyone knew Rita so she stood in the foyer and waited.

A nondescript brown haired woman waved to her from a small table in the corner. 

“Ms Skeeter! Over here please” Rita zigzagged her way through the tables and took a seat opposite Penelope’s. She has already ordered a coffee and was sitting in front of what looked to Rita to be a square piece of muggle machinery.

“Please to meet you in person” said Penelope, extending her hand. Rita grasped it briefly. 

“The pleasure is all mine Ms. Brown. Yours is the only owl I received that showed any promise, so I hope you won’t waste my time today.”

“Trust me Ms. Skeeter, you want the information I have. Can I get you anything, coffee tea?

“I don’t suppose they have firewhiskey in this dunghill do they?” Penelope laughed 

“I’m afraid not, but they do make and excellent caramel macchiato” 

“Yes, yes fine.” Said Rita impatiently bending down to pull out her quick quotes quill out of her bag. Penelope returned a few minutes later with a steaming up. Rita took a sip. She had to hand it to these muggles, their coffee was deliciously sweet. Not that she ever would admit that out loud. 

“So…” Said Rita impatiently “What do you have for me?” 

Well,”Penelope fired up her computer. “I was on Tumblr last week, and some of the people I follow in literary circles were reblogging posts about a new author on the Scottish scene. She is known only by her pen name, H Black, and publishes weekly installments of her stories on a popular webpage” Rita didn’t know what a Tumble was or what it had to do with a so called “webpage” but she liked where this was going.

“So naturally I was interested..” Penelope continued. “And I started reading her work. You won’t believe what I found. Here,” she said turning her laptop around to face Rita, “See for yourself”

 

While The Candle Still Burns

  
  


May 1978

 

“...Will be born as the seventh Month dies.”  Professor Trelawney finished in her harsh disembodied  voice. The atmosphere in the room changed as her eyes slid back into focus and the muffled sounds of an unwanted intruder slowly faded. “My dear Professor Dumbledore forgive me. The terrestrial vibrations of the room have caused my mind to wander. Where were we?”

“I was just about to offer you the position. Will you come join our staff Cybil or may I be so bold to say Professor Trelawney.”  Cybil was taken aback. She did not get the impression that he respected the noble art of divination, for he had seemed so disinterred up until now.

“I would be thrilled to” She said in her ethereal tone.

“Well that settles it” said Dumbledore getting up from the small table in a musty room atop the Hog's Head inn. “I will see you on the first of September. You may of course take the Hogwarts express if you do not have alternative means of travel. If you will excuse me I must have a word with proprietor. When I return we can discuss your contract and salary” And with that he walked out the door. Leaving the Professor alone with her sherry. She ran though her interview in her mind. She had started to feel off ,a familiar sickness stirring in her stomach.Then,  a dark haired young man was thrown from the bar for listening at the door. “Hm” she thought smugly “He must have known I would be meeting with Dumbledore. Word that Cassandra’s great granddaughter is in Hogsmeade must have spread quickly”  She still felt sick despite the self satisfied smile on her face. Taking another drink of Sherry to steady herself  she gripped the table to stand and felt her consciousness slip as the darkness took over once more…

 

Rita read and re-read the words on the screen. It was the Potter boy's story… on a muggle ...web-thing..that they could read and comment on with their web... parchments. 

“So let me get this straight...Hermione Granger left the wizarding world to write about the war for muggles to read on their magic boxes-”

“Computers”

“-Whatever they are called- Well it's not very interesting. Short of the Golden Girl being arrested for breaking the International Statute of secrecy I don’t think my readers will give a rat’s fart.” Rita stood up to leave, disappointed.

“Wait, you don’t understand. She is not just writing a memoir, she’s writing fanfiction of her own life. EVERYONE is in these stories. You would not believe the secrets she is spilling, let alone who the bushy haired bookworm fantasies about sleeping with.”” Penelope clicked on another story and slid the laptop towards Rita.

 

**_She was close, too close. Inches separated Hermione’s brown eyes from her impossibly black ones. She loved it there, a front row seat to the pain she caused. Every emotion, every scream was like a symphony and her victims were her beautiful instruments. “This is want you want, isn’t it Muddy? Hmm?” Hermione couldn't breathe. Her heart was pounding, body betraying her with arousal. Her eyes flickered to Bellatrix’s full lips, now turned down in a mock pout. “N-no” she forced out. “Now pet, there is no use lying. “It’s just”... her hand slipped under Hermione's shirt,  “us”…. fingers traced her hipbone, “girls”... her nails pierced her skin .Pain flickered across her face, but she wouldn't give her the stratification of crying out. Bellatrix leaned in, black curls tickling Hermione's face  “This is the part where you beg me to fuck you….”_ **

 

Rita spat out the sip of coffee she just took. Padding her shirt down with a napkin. She looked up at Penelope, her face alight with a sinful smile..

“My, my, my this is perfection. Who’s have thought little miss know it all was a muff diver? Order me another one of those “Machitos.” We are going to be here for awhile.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Ladies and Gents! This is my first published fan fiction story. I am going to try and update every two weeks. My beta consists of a very patient friend who tolerates my fandom obsessions. Reviews and feedback appreciated!


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